Rated as “The Best Pre-School” in Gurgaon by Times Search ( according to its website), iBambini (Italian for “Children”) is nestled in over an acre of greens and is the first to introduce the The Reggio Emilia Approach to pre-school in India and extended day program (for children upto 10 years)

You may ask the name definitely is impressive as so is the approach..but what exactly is Reggio approach?

According to Wikipedia – The Reggio Emilia believes that in the early years of development that children are forming who they are as an individual. The approach uses a program based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum.

The school works by taking up a project on monthly basis and focusing all the activities around it. How? For eg. The topic for month of February was “Cars” and the teacher told us that everything they teach the kids this month will be focused around cars right from their story telling (by means of puppets etc) will be dealing with cars. They even took the kids to Audi showroom to see what a real car is like! Great approach I must say.

I was quite impressed by this approach and felt it was a breath of fresh air after all my local neighbourhood schools that adopt so called “play way” or “Montessori” approach. The former, being nothing more than kids spending all the time playing with toys; and doing nothing else, other than of-course eating their Tiffin.

One of the major plus points of this school is its huge playground and an epicentre. Other common features include sand pit and splash pool.

Fee Structure – Approximately 4.5K per month. Will add details soon.

Here are some of the reviews that I found on internet regarding this school ( both positive and negative)

Good ones

Hello All,

“I am another exparent of ibambini…my daughter nishka passed out this year…I have been extremely happy with ibambini and would blindly vouch for it to anyone. The staff is not only warm and friendly as mentioned but they are extremely ‘professional’ as well. They work very hard and very patiently with the children and I found their approach very fascinating. They truly guid the children and work alongside them and not work for them, nor do they follow rote method to ‘teach’ childen as I have seen many others do. It is ruly a world class preschool…and has a huge green park next to it, again something many preschools don’t have….

The negative feedback, Prao you are referring to was relating to Acs and coolers not working when the electricity goes, which frankly does not happen anywhere. Fans operational at that time is good enough.

Anyway, like I said it is the approach and the way they work with kids that is worth looking at once before you make up your mind…infrastructural issues come way down in the priority list.

In fact, only day before NDTV had approached them to shoot a discussion on campus regarding how to choose the right preschool, right age for starting preschools etc. The Director, Mrs. Chaudhary was a part of the panel. you can catch the programme on monday, march 24 at 11am on NDTV Metrronation and repeat at 10.30pm…proof of the fact that they are doing good work!”

You must check it out!

Rekha

“Hi shrishti,

My daughter goes to the pre-nursery class in ibambini since last year.

My experience with the school has been very good.The dedication and the affection imparted by all the teachers,staff etc.is terrific.

When we shifted here two years back we put our elder daughter in a big school, when last year I went there for my younger daughter they told me she has a speech problem, does not know a lot of things etc.We literally panicked as we were very sure that she would get through atleast as a sibling.

Then I came across reviews about ibambini.

The first thing that impressed me was the confidence they showed assuring me that every child takes its own time.

And today when my child has completed a year with them there is a sea change in her and now she is ready to join the nursery in a regular school in Mumbai (as we are shifting).

I can vote for ibambini as being one of the finest play school in Gurgaon.

best wishes

sushmita”

Source – Indiaparenting.com website

Now Bad ones

“Hi,

I’ve been researching play schools in gurgaon and had very bad experience with ibambini. The person whom we met with (Mrs Bharti, i think – cos she didnt even introduce herself!!!) was anything but warm. I am an education epecialist myself and i guess she felt “threathened” with my queries on the reggio method and was very defensive – to the point of arguing! Anyway its interesting that when i asked abt the staff training, she said that the method required no training – i guess anyone can do it then! So what’s so special. The method is good (based on info from a friend in the US and my own research) but i guess when the principal is not able to explain, there is a problem. When i asked to check out the premises (was not offered to me!) i saw the toilet being dark and dingy, i asked. To which she replied that there’s probably no one in there or no electricity. She ignored my response abt the back up system and the fact that a nanny was with a child there! Didnt even say bye to me when i left – badly needs some training in manners!

So, for me a rather bad experience here. A total wonderful experience at idiscovery, so may send my toddler there.”

[…] and much more. For eg, iBambini preschool in Gurgaon follows the Italian method of teaching (Read About ibambini here) while Panchatanta Montessori School (Read about Panchatantra here) follows the Montessori […]

Intellitots is a great pre-school. If you are planning to stay in and around DLF Phase IV in Gurgaon its a good place. They have also opened another center at the Shalom Hills School in Nirvana Country, Sector 50, Gurgaon.

They offer several different activities for kids beginning 6 months to about 6 years in age. These range from parent-infant and parent-toddler programs to speech and drama for older kids. Intellitots is started by two US-returned mothers Pooja Goyal and Shivani Kapoor who are from IIT and have corporate backgrounds.

I visited it once and was surprised to see that they offer a lot to the kids through fun and creative activities involving parents along the way. The activities range from storytelling to baby yoga to music and much more. I would definitely consider it. Since the place was far from where we live I didnt enquire about fee structure and all but if its close to your place do consider it as an option. A different yet wonderful place for kids.

I dont think that is the case with Ibambini.Their problems have doubled. and mainly because of one basic problem with the school management – aka- mrs chaudhary and daughter ruchita – GREED. they might have been a very good school in past few years and that is why they probably got the award (which by the way is not a difficult task these days – all you have to do is grease some palms and its done – or find a suitable connection)
here are a few facts to prove my statement
1. on the birthday of the child, they ask the child to get a BIG present for his freinds – which very easily becomes the school property. so this way they dont have to spend a penny on buying any new toys for the kids
2. the resource room as they call it – has broken toys and such a paucity of them. even the classrooms have broken teaching aids – like the puzzles etc dont have all the pieces – forget all, they dont even have half the pieces.
3. in terms of teacher training – that is the funniest of all – they make the teachers do all the art work and show it off to the parents as if their own child did it. i mean, anyone with half an understanding of their own kids abilities will know if that piece of artwork has been done by their own kids or the teachers. and also staff turnover is high – very few teachers remain in the school for very long – its because they are dealt with such high handedness.
4. they are so autocratic in their decisions – they decided that they will decide the menu for each day of the week – great idea!. but 2 days out of 5 had , macaroni/noodles (maida which is not healthy food at all and difficult for a 2/3 year old to eat on his own) and chocos (who eats chocos without milk). i discussed with the teacher and she agreed that a lot of parents came back with similar feedback and she had translated this to the school management. but the school management didnt want to change its decision. infact, in one circular, they came back saying that please feed your child a heavy breakfast (so that when he is supposed to eat in school – not a lot of effort is spent on that and if he feeds or not, atleast he wont be cranky)
5. they decided they will have a diwali mela and sent a circular attached that 850 rupees was a mandatory payment. To make it look authentic they said that this decision had been taken by the parents committee. i must have talked to atleast 30 odd parents – nobody knew how and when this parents committee was formed, who its members were and how they were empowered to unilateraly take decisions.When I spoke to school management, the arguments were so ludicrous – it was unbelievable. Finally she relented and said that if 50 parents tell us that we don’t want to pay – we will not have the diwali mela . who decided this number of 50. out of a total strength of what – has that been made public? She said ok – if 850 is too much is 500 ok. Promptly they sent out a notice asking the parents asking if they want the diwali mela or not. If yes, 850 or 500. obviously, the parents chose the lesser of the evils coz they also felt that atleast we got a 350 discount, lets go ahead. It will look really cheap if we say we don’t want it all together. Even then when they published this so called “verdict”. There were no numbers to prove this nor any form of signatures etc to verify this. School management thought that ok if we cant get 850 , atleast lets pocket the 500
6. after the steep fees they charge under various heads ( which someone can argue that most schools do) ; they are so cheap that they had to ask for Rs 350 over and above the rs 5000 already taken as stationary charges at the beginning of the year) for a calendar. It just shows how they are out to just extract every penny they can from the parents
7. after all the good reviews I had read , I didn’t get any parents orientation in the beginning – they were so disorganized when this current 2011-12 session started in April.
8. the receptionist had confirmed to us (and we checked with her atleast 5 times ) that one only has to pay the ongoing fees for 3 quarters . I thought this is splendid since in march the kids only go for 10 to 12 odd days during which time they actually start with only an hour for 7 / 8 working days and gradually the time period is increased. After that its 2 months holidays. The said receptionist was not there when we went back in july and mrs chaudhary spoke to us with such contempt reminding us of the dictionary meaning of the word “quarter” and that fees had to paid infact for all 4 quarters. I bumped into the receptionist few months after this incident and she confirmed to me that this is infact what she had told us. And by the way, she wasn’t happy with the school either and so she left soon
9. other points – children at age 2 are not given crayons to learn coloring – instead they are given water paints. Anybody will know that for a 2 year old to wield a brush is far more difficult that holding a caryon. And anybody knows that crayons cost more than paints – in paints one can keep adding water – that’s the beauty….just like milk.
10. the bathrooms – twice that I went, I found no water in the sink
11. they give so many holidays – its unbelievable. In the month of October – just 9 working days for the kids. And its not as if they give an easy time to the teachers. The teachers are called most days the school is off for the kids – so then why not call the kids also. For instance, they showed off the artwork on Saturday and parents were supposed to go visit. Because of that, the following Monday was a holiday – only for the kids mind you. The exhibition took 30 minutes to see….and it held no interest for the child in anycase. For those 30 minutes, you take off 3 hours on Monday.- why? And I could have understood that it was because they made their staff – teachers work so much that they wanted to give them a break – but no – they called the teachers on Monday too – to do what ? One can only imagine
12. they organize a Didi Bhaiyya day – where in they ask for new clothes and other utility items and cash donations for their cleaner/gardener/sweeper/watchman staff. Extremely good idea don’t you think – no one knows how much cash was collected since it is not made public and how it was disposed off ( it could have found its way to the personal account of the school management – who knows ). And their staff gets gifts from the children – the school administration doesn’t have to shell out a penny.
I could go on and on. Please do think twice before putting your child in ibambini. And believe me, they don’t follow the child at all in their teaching methods. The children play and eat tiffin and come back – that ‘s it. That’s what one does when he/she is 2 years old.

One thnig i find funny is they asking for cash payments and discourage cheques. I think some senior management peopl do not even show some kids in the class roll. They harass the parents so that they take thier kids out in-between the sessions. They keep back filling the seats during the entire period. That way, with the same headcount, they earn more money. I wonder, if the trustees know about it.

Intellitots- Any day. When I moved here 1 year ago I did a thorough research on preschools and daycares. Some had good buildings but bad staff, some had good counsellers but bad teachers and so on. At Intellitots I found passionate teachers who cared about every child. I got to interact with many of them when I attended the parent toddler program and I was bowled with their profiles. The team has IITians, the person running the parent toddler class was an IP lawyer and doing it for the sheer passion of being with childen, the assistant teacher was an electrical engineer from Carnegie Mellon (I think). All in all my daughter felt so much at home there that I really thank them from the bottom of my heart for the service they are doing to families. Please do check them out. I think their website is www,intellitots.in

Hello Parents,
U may want to try Bitsy Boots play school m Day care in sector 57, we provide pick n drop , nutritious food and all basic facilities u may visit as http://www.bitsyboots.com or contact at 9999915796.